77/1789 [Civil engineering]. Bélidor, B.F. de. Architecture hydraulique, ou l'art de conduire, d'élever et de ménager les eaux pour les différens besoins de la vie. Paris, C.-A. Jombert etc., 1782-1790, 2 parts in 4 vols., 2 engr. frontisp., 2 diff. woodcut and 2 diff. engr. title-vignettes, 6 engr. headpieces, 219 fold. maps/ plans/ plates, contemp. unif. cat's paw calf w. gilt spine, 4to.

- All vols. bookplate on upper pastedown; vol.3 inner hinge weak. All vols. covers worn/ dam.; joints split(ting); backstrips dam./ some loss of gilding due to dry leather; 1 vol. portion of backstrip torn/ loose at top of spine. Despite external defects a good copy.

= Poggendorff I, p.138; Kat. Orn. Berlin 3555; DSB I, p.582; Roberts & Trent p.29-30: "Bélidor's work is one of the earliest scientific books in the field of engineering. Concentrating on civil construction, he considers transportation, shipbuilding, waterways and watersupply, ornamental fountains, windmills and pumps, epitomizing their state on the eve of the Industrial Revolution." Bélidor was the first to use differential and integral equations for the solution of hydrotechnical problems. The work remained the standard authority on practical water engineering long after most of the techniques it describes became obsolete.